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June 22, 2012

Weekly Planner

Week 13

by Paul Sporer

This is what happens when I trust Clay Buchholz. He faced Miami in back-to-back starts and initially demolished them at home, running his streak to four straight great games (which is why he got the seal of approval as a “start”), but the Fish smashed him for five runs on nine hits in six innings in their rematch. The silver lining is that he managed to get the win since Ricky Nolasco was even worse.

Of the three other AL “starts,” all of whom were relative no-names, it was actually Scott Diamond facing the Pirates in Pittsburgh who did the worst, surprisingly enough. After seven straight starts of three earned runs or fewer, he has allowed four in back-to-back outings against the Phillies and Pirates. Matt Harrison and Tommy Milone were excellent in their initial starts of the week, including a complete game from Milone.

Things have gone horribly on the NL side. Mat Latos faced a similar situation to Buchholz where he faced the same team twice in a row and got smoked (seven ER in four IP) in the first bout. Aaron Harang’s control imploded as he walked eight in three innings in Oakland, and Mark Buehrle was thrashed in Fenway while also doing the “same team twice in a row” thing. These guys need to rally to save the week.

AMERICAN LEAGUE
Auto-Starts: Jake Peavy, C.J. Wilson, and Yu Darvish

Wilson has walked just a single batter in two of his last three starts as he fights to keep his walk rate on the right side of 4.0. Of course, he sandwiched that with a five-walk game, so we’re not out of the woods yet. You can’t complain about the 2.44 ERA and 1.15 WHIP, though, so I’m still firmly in the Wilson camp.

Speaking of walks, Darvish continues to succeed in spite of them (5.0 BB/9), striking out nearly 10 per nine. If you are okay in WHIP, Darvish is a worthy trade target as he continues to deliver wins, strikeouts, and ERA. If the control comes around, he will be ace-worthy.